All posts tagged INQ28

What’s a Slaaneshi Dark Mech Magos to do when he’s hunting for parts and archeotech in the depths of the Underhive and doesn’t want to carry everything himself? Well, he could summon a daemonic steed, trap it in the mortal realm, and use it to carry his bags. That’s exactly what my Magos has done, and this is his Slaaneshi Pack Mule.

Now, you can’t have your pack mule shifting back to the warp every five minutes – you’d lose all of your stuff. So our Magos here installed some sort of fancy inhibitor chip to stop his seeker from heading back to the warp. The downside of this is that unlike other daemons who can be “killed” go back to the warp, and then come back with all their bits intact, our steed can’t do that. So when he lost his leg, our Magos had to make him a new one. That’s my fluff, and I’m sticking to it.

So, that’s what inspired me to create the little creation that you see here, to join my Slaaneshi warband that I am indeed looking forward to trying them all out in some custom games of Necromunda.

The leg took most of the time to make. There are a lot of bits involved there; too many to mention them all. The thigh though is actually from an Eldar Wraithlord’s scatter laser – it’s funny how you find these parts. All of the packs and bags on its back are green stuff, filled with bits again from various kits, and that lovely servo skull too. There’s also the wire running down the neck which is snake chain, and a torch/light has replaced one of the jaw-horns. As simple as that!

In terms of the paint job, it’s pretty traditional Slaanesh really. Lots of pinks and purples, though I’m happy with how the scales turned out. Dark Reaper and Pink Horror give the snakeskin pattern, and after some washes and highlights, I finished it off with a gloss coat which gives it that slimy-not-slimy look that snakes have.

Well, he’s a bit different anyway. Another mad creation. Not sure about the rules for him yet. I think his gammy leg should make him slower than the lightning fast seekers we’re used to. And maybe people could give up shooting attacks if they’re within 1″ of this guy can throw an object from the packs on his back instead. They range from harmless tin cans to destroyer weapons that have been picked up by the Magos. I’ll work on that. Also, I think I’ll call him Binky.

And he fits in quite nicely with the rest of my small team of Dark Mech Deviants. What’s more, I think I’ve nailed worn leather. I’m really happy with how those packs look. Binky was a lot of fun to work on.

Well, we’re just a couple of days away from Necromunda being released so expect more Underhive goodness next week and for the near future. Happy painting all. Onwards!

As regular readers (or those who at least read the last post on here) will know, I recently completed work on my Inquisitor, Thor Joshan, and got my new camera up and running as well. To that end I am bringing you, in this here post, the completed Ordo Xenos retinue. Well, I say ‘completed’, but this is plastic crack and the hobby never ends, so who knows, right? However, the core group is now complete and with these sexy new glamour shots, they look better than ever. So without further ado (the chance of even a little rudimentary ado would be a fine thing), here they are in all their glory.

IInky Squet – The Last Of His Kind, The Rodent Rogue, The Mercenary

Brother Exadon – Deathwatch Space Marine, Mortifactor, Bodyguard

Eshairr Lightblade – The Craftworld Outcast, The Shadowless, The Cursed

Project OX135 – Monster, Mutant, Experiment

Inquisitor Thor Joshan – Renegade, Unorthodox Leader, The One Who Walks In Twilight

And there you have them. I am chuffed to bits with my first attempt at an INQ28 retinue and I am now feverishly trying to dream up new monsters, individuals and lunatics to do this again. May the Emperor bless me with some form of divine inspiration. Comments, questions and criticisms are welcome below and if you’ve got any crazy ideas to add to my own, let me know. Onwards!

“Joshan’s actions are at the very least unorthodox, and are at most on the borders of outright heresy. He walks in the twilight at the edges of our known galaxy and has collected about him a menagerie of mutants, eccentrics and even aliens. He is but a few steps away from moving beyond the edicts of the Emperor’s Holy Inquisition, and is for that reason that I must judge him to be ‘observed’.”

– Lord Inquisitor Enriko Ranz (Ordo Xenos)

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And I am back. Reports of my being abducted by the Inquisition and locked away in a vault on Terra, have been greatly exaggerated. Not only that, but I bring you my new Inquisitor, Thor Joshan. Also, he has been snapped with my brand new camera which I’m still figuring out and getting used to but nevertheless, these snaps are still a vast improvement on those previously taken with my iPhone.

Thor Joshan isn’t exactly a rogue inquisitor, but he’s not in the Ordo’s good books either. He has a history of committing questionable actions and behaviour, and his retinue is composed of elements that don’t meet the Inquisition’s strictest standards. But more on that fluff later.

I took the Empire Witch Hunter from the fantasy game and cut his very fancy hat and gruff looking head off, replacing it with a green stuff hood and half the head of a space marine. I added some brass to the big sword and an Inquisitorial talisman to his uniform. To further bring him into the grimdark, I’ve got him standing on a rusting rhino front and there’s a servo skull floating there too (though it refused to get into focus). Oh, and I topped off his sword with a big skull because, well, y’know, …skulls.

I’m really happy with this guy and he makes a great leader for my small retinue, and my first venture into INQ28. Speaking of the retinue, now I’ve got this fancy new camera, there may well be a few new pictures of them on the way too. But anyway, it’s good to be back. This is the first thing I’ve painted in a very long time, but I’m happy to say I’ve got the painting bug again. Onwards!

“… but we do not consider you to have deserted us, Exadon. You are fulfilling your duty, as prescribed by your own meditations, and confirmed by those of your company Chaplain. The more you learn of the Xenos threats in this part of the galaxy, the greater our strength will grow upon your return. Study your companions in this Inquisitor’s retinue as you would study your foes, and remember that one day you will almost certainly be called upon to despatch them or their kind. Know their weaknesses and their strengths as you know your own. The Emperor and Tezuka walk with you, and your brothers remember you in their oaths.”

– Chaplain Astador of the Mortifactors

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The fourth member of my Ordo Xenos team for INQ28 is now done, and I went with a bit of a classic – a Space marine of the Deathwatch. And guess which Chapter he’s come from. 😉 Well, I couldn’t not have a Mortifactor in there somewhere, could I? Welcome, Brother Exadon.

This isn’t so much of a conversion as a straight up ‘kitbash’. The only time any converting was done was to change the sword to be held in a left hand rather than the right. Quite a lot of kits went into making this one though, so I should run through them here. The legs, torso and backpack come from the Grey Knights box, the helmet comes from the Chaos Space Marines box (Heretic!), the gun and Deathwatch shoulder guard come from the Deathwatch accessories kit, the chainsword comes from the Vanguard Veterans kit and I think both arms are from the Space Marines Tactical Squad box. How’s that for an informative run-on sentence?

The painting was a relatively simple affair too when you get down to it. Apart from the silver arm, the red gun and the bone coloured skull, it was pretty much a case of painting black with a few details here and there. But the silver arm is a good thing to look at because it highlights how I’ve changed the way I highlight with the minis in this INQ28 project. There is far less focus on basic edging and doing a lot more painting looking from the top down. Edges still often get highlighted, but only if they’d actually pick up light from light source directly above them. I don’t think I explained that particularly well and the photos don’t do this much justice here (can’t wait for that new camera) but it’s definitely a very different approach.

And of course the other shoulder has a skull, but you’ll have seen quite a few of those on this blog before so I won’t go on about it.

The Deathwatch are pretty darn cool. Elite even by Space Marine standards and drawn from every chapter, they are all unique and get to use some pretty special wargear, not least that bolter. The Mortifactors have always been a chapter that particularly dislike Xenos and supply an unusually large number of warriors to the Deathwatch. Brother Exadon joined the ranks of the Deathwatch years ago, but in his meditations, he saw an image of Inquisitor Joshan, stood beside a great dark figure, shrouded in shadow. He has now become Joshan’s personal bodyguard and the access he has to the Inquisitor gives him the opportunity to learn more about the aliens that threaten the Imperium, and also to follow his vision.

So now that I have the big, burly Deathwatch Marine done (along with the cursed Eldar, the last true Hrud and a half human/half ork mutant), I think it’s about time I started work on the Inquisitor himself. He’s up next, so stay tuned for the final part of this warband for this year!

“The paths of our kin wind through time and space, and to divine them all is beyond even the most gifted or studied seer. Lightblade’s path though is a cause for bitter weeping and for songs of lament to be sung. He has moved beyond the light but not drifted into darkness. Until he discovers the truth within his heart, within his soul, he can never be Eldar. He has entrusted himself to Joshan Thor Terran, the one who moves amongst all. May Lightblade’s seachran melt away, like a cloud that has wept all of its tears.”

– Lan’Tyl Dusksinger, Seer

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The third member of my Inquisitorial Warband, Eshairr Lightblade, is now complete and this was one of those projects. It’s a really, really, really simple conversion but it has given me some real headaches along the way, both in terms of modelling and painting. I’m happy with the end result (by and large) but I’ll always see the annoyances whenever I look at it.

Only two kits were used for this miniature – the Harlequin Death Jester and the old Dire Avenger kit (when it was 10 plastic minis instead of five). Very simply, I chopped the head off the Death Jester, whittled out some room for a neck, added some green stuff to the ribcage (enough to leave some definition but no gaping holes), and filed off some details. The sword had the Dire Avenger rune trimmed from the blade, and the hands were resized a little to fit this kit (which is annoyingly slightly smaller than the Dire Avenger stuff). The head needed more work and was touch and go for a little while. The cheeks were even trimmed down to bring its dimensions more in line but eventually I got it to work. It was a pain in the backside to get it all right and I spent ages umming and ahhing about it – I just had to dive in and get it done.

There are bits of the paint job that I’m really happy with and bits I’m not. Spirit stones and sword blade – great. Trousers questionable and the skin is a little too blotchy for my liking but were I to use fluff as an excuse for that, I want this character to be a real Eldar outcast due to some mystery and curse – his soul absent from his personality, and so un-eldar. That can explain the skin, but the trousers are just a little dull and as for the purplish breastplate, that almost went very wrong so was a lengthy rescue job.

The coat though. The coat I am very happy with. As per usual (admit it, you regular readers were expecting it, right?) my photography isn’t the best, but the worn, brown leather look of this cloak is great, if I do say so myself. There are parts of it that actually look like real leather – as if you’d touch it and it would be soft. Very, very happy with that. I’m also rather partial to the basing too – it’s in line with the rest of the Warband and I did enjoy doing that rust.

Eshairr Lightblade is in itself the perfect name for this character. Eshairr means ‘outcast’ and Lightblade is a recall to those old Rogue Trader era Eldar names (that some authors still use to this day). Upon his former craftworld, he was kept away from the general populace for the seers saw an unnerving strangeness in him. He had none of the glamour of the Eldar, and he seemed to be a void of nothingness where other souls were light or dark. When Inquisitor Joshan offered him passage and the chance to answer the questions he had about himself, Lightblade agreed, and the craftworld breathed a sigh of relief to see their strangest son depart. He is not exactly a loyal follower of the Inquisitor, but he shows no sign of betrayal in his words or actions. He fulfils the role of assassin, bodyguard and whatever else the Thor Joshan needs him to do.

So that’s another one done. Onto the next member of this Ordo Xenos team, which will hopefully follow soon. Onwards!

“He is a living relic, y’know. Terra knows how old that rat is, but his kind ain’t been seen around these parts for a quarter hundred and not often afore that either. I heard rumour that some big bugs melted ‘em all or something, or that a bunch of abhumans was sent in to flush ‘em away. Who knows, right? But I’ll tell you this; I ain’t never seen nobody outfight him, nor outshoot him. Even big fellas go down when he lamps one on their chin. Iinky’s won every bar tussle and duel he jumped into, that’s true, and he’s as sharp as a Catachan’s knife to boot. Wouldn’t trust his type though, but he always paid his bills and that’s good enough for me so long as I got an optic on him.”

– Byroll Coate, Bar Owner (testimony under oath)

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This is the second member of my Inquisitorial warband, the master thief and scrappy fighter whose species is, as far as he knows, all gone. His name is Iinky Squet and he’s my nod to a bit of 40k lore that comes right out of Rogue Trader. Back then you see, GW still being in its relative infancy, the designers ported over elves, dwarves and orcs from the fantasy system. They of course became Eldar, Squats (RIP) and Space Orks respectively but the Hrud also existed and they were, originally, Space Skaven. Over the years, GW has moved away from this idea and while the Squats got eaten by Tyranids, and the Eldar and Orks have been given the chance to flesh out their own distinct fluff, the Hrud never even got off the ground and eventually their rat-like look was replaced by aliens with big black eyes and long limbs. So up steps Iinky Squet – the last of those Hrud who never made it. Or is he…?

Iinky Squet is another pretty simple conversion based on a WFB miniature, the Skaven Warlord. The first step was removing a hand, most of the tail and filing off the very Skaveny details on the armour. Next up, he needed some guns. I filed off the details on a Chaos Space Marine bolt pistol (love the ammo hanging loose from the underside of those guns) for his right hand, and for his left, this gun come from the Legion Praetors set from Forge World. I won’t say why I have that set (not yet – all will be revealed) but I didn’t actually need this particular pistol and given that it looks so cool, I couldn’t resist using it. I created the tail by using a whip that come with the Astral Claws Master of the Forge (that I didn’t use when I built my Grey Knights Techmarine), and I then added a little ‘=][=’ charm (from a GK box) to his one of his tassles. Done.

I stuck with a very subdued painting style, darkening everything and bring it back up again with inks. The pictures don’t do it justice here (I know I use that excuse too much – I’m working on it), but I’m really happy with the more natural look I’m getting on the metal and the cloth at the moment. His cloak in particular resembles a battered, old leather sheet, and I’m very pleased with the effect, as I am with his skin/fur – having never painted a rat before I found it pretty rewarding to give that a go and pull it off.

I see his play style being that of a scrappy gunfighter and dirty brawler, big on speed and number of attacks but low on strength. And while he’ll be good at pinching things and picking up items, he’ll rarely show any heroism. He’s joined Thor Joshan’s retinue because the Inquisitor offered him knowledge about his species, their origins and their fate, but if he doesn’t get some answers soon, there’s no telling how long Iinky will stay around for.

So that’s two down in my Inquisitor Warband. A few more to go, but I think I need to do a bit more Mortifactors stuff next – want to get them finished off as soon as possible. So look out for that, and for some more INQ28 stuff too. And I promise (as bloody usual) that I will try and work on the photography. With not being at home when there’s any natural daylight, and having to rely mainly on my iPhone camera, I’m not doing myself any favours, but I’ll continue to work on it. Promise. Onwards!

“The existence of Project 135 would be considered outright and undeniable heresy were it not the work of the Ordo Xenos. The splicing of human and Ork DNA is an abhorrent idea, born of unchecked minds being allowed to work too much in isolation. Designed as a weapon, 135 was conceived to combat the Ork on his own terms, but he should never have been created in the first place and Inquisitor Thor Joshan was entrusted with its termination. However, the Inquisitor went against his own vows and now uses 135 as it was always intended to be used – as a brutal killing machine almost beyond control. Whether these actions were caused by pity, heresy or vanity, the highest ranks of the Holy Inquisition Ordo Xenos hereby declares Inquisitor Thor Joshan to be ‘observed’.”

– Lord Inquisitor Redinath Diaz

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Didn’t expect that, now did you! 😉 Yes, I am braving the dark dark grimdark world of INQ28 and this is my very first effort in that system – OX135. Let’s look at a few more pics, and I can take you through my thinking (such as it is).

As someone who spends nearly all his time working in power armour (well, I mean i paint it – I don’t sit at my desk in power armour because that would be a bit weird) and the rest of the time on gribbly daemons, I have decided to add some aliens to my portfolio. The theme for my small retinue is based around Inquisitor Thor Joshan, a very unorthodox Ordo Xenos operative who surrounds himself with aliens and those fascinated by them.

OX135 is slightly different though. He’s an experiment that certainly didn’t go wrong (if anything, it worked too well) but isn’t right. Human DNA mixed with that of ork DNA has created a hulking humanoid monster capable of rage, strength and intelligence. Had the project ever been approved (which it never would have been), those following in 135’s oversized footsteps could have proven to be a cheaper, faster to deploy, and more expendable alternative to Space Marines should humanity encounter vast ork hordes in remote space. However, that was never to be, and though the project was ordered to be destroyed, those orders were given to Inquisitor Joshan who had some different ideas.

So apart from working on something other than power armour, I wanted to test out my converting too. I’ve invested in a few smaller sculpting tools, some different paints and washes, and I reckon I’ll be getting through a fair few sticks of green stuff over these projects as well.

The keen eyed amongst you will recognise the base model for OX135 – it’s the Savage Orc Big Boss from the fantasy system. I removed the head and cut back the shoulders a bit, as well as removing the axe, and have replaced those components with some from the Grey Knights kits. He now wields a huge blade and there are a few wires here and their, including the kill wire in his back which was supposed to deliver the killing voltage before the Inquisitor earned the beast’s trust by hacking through it at the last possible moment.

My inspirations behind this included Orks and even Space marines, but also things like the Incredible Hulk and Juggernaut from Marvel. But then, when working on INQ28 stuff, the biggest influence has to be John Blanche. I wanted this monstrosity to look like it might fit in one his beautiful and bizarre illustrations. With the loin cloth changed to parchment, and wires, trinkets and tattoos, I hope it does that (at least slightly).

This is also a chance for me to try a completely different style of painting. Rather than the “comic book realism” (if such a thing exists) that I use with my 40k work, I’ve tried to really go somewhere different with this. It’s lots of dry-brushing and washing. It’s leaving parts looking a little rougher to play on the ideas of dirt and shadow, and treating light sources a little differently, looking for contrasts and the curiosities of how the brush moves over the subject. It’s by no means perfect, but as a first attempt I’m very happy with it. In fact, I’d be happy if this was a much later attempt too.

My light source is coming directly from above, as if this brute is fighting his way through an underhive where the only light is second hand and high above. I’ve painted the metals and skin in a completely different way to how I have done previously with the high light source really playing a part in that.

If I had to find one thing about the model that I’m not happy with, it would be the eyes. I tried to go for the bright red eyes of an ork and I’m not sure it works so I may change those to more human shades in the future, but who knows – maybe I’ll learn to love them.

So, there you have it. I have officially embarked into INQ28 and as well as all of my other projects, you can expect some more curiosities from the fringes of the galaxy coming your way soon. Onwards!